


Happy Thanksgiving

by MusicReject



Series: Holidays [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alex loves John, Baby Theodosia, F/F, Fluff, Found Families, I love them all, John loves Alex, M/M, Maria goes by Maria Lewis because she hadn't married James, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, the James thing is a restraining order, they all love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 21:22:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8638585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicReject/pseuds/MusicReject
Summary: John's been planning Thanksgiving since Halloween and he really just wants Alex to enjoy the holiday.





	

Alex has been working on his paper for the last few hours and John’s definitely kept track. He watched the sun fall asleep and the moon take its place. He watched the stars that could be seen through the light pollution take the stage, each playing their part to bring wonder to the night.

Once two in the morning rolled around, John ‘wakes up’ and slowly gets out of bed, hoping that Alex wouldn’t notice his movements.

“Where are you going?” Alex asks, tearing his burning gaze away from the laptop screen to focus on John.

‘ _Shit_ ,’ John thinks to himself before pretending to yawn and stretch, “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Alex nods, “alright. Hurry back, love you.” Before he had even finished the sentence, he already turned back to the open Word document and resumed typing.

John chuckles, “I love you.” He leaves the room and, instead of going to the bathroom, turns and grabs the two bags from the hall closet. He places the bags on cough in the living room and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly to release the building nerves.

“Where to start,” he says, trailing off as he surveys the room with his hands on his hips. He kneels down and starts rummaging through the bags, “ah-ha!” he calls as he pulls out the streamers. By ‘streamers’ he means red, orange, and brown leaves attached to strings that he’s going to hang around the entire apartment. And he does… happily.

John pulls paper lanterns out of the bags that are decorated with words like “thankful” and “family” and hangs them from the ceiling. Carefully avoiding the fake spider webs that refused to come off from Halloween. Well, he hopes they’re fake. If not, they’re definitely moving.

He dumps the rest of the decorations on the cough and picks up sheets of Charlie Brown Thanksgiving decals. John peels off a few characters, Woodstock is definitely his favorite, and sticks them to the windows. He sticks the rest of the decals on the walls and places the weird paper turkey on the coffee table, surround it with plastic leaves that fell off the streamers.

Finally, he puts a few candles out to finish the Thanksgiving scene. He gathers the garbage and plastic bags then heads to the kitchen, dumping the garbage in the trashcan and the plastic bags under the sink. John takes another deep breath and slowly releases it, letting go of all the tension that built up over the past few weeks as he waited for this day. He checks the clock and ‘ _holy shit, it’s three. I really hope Alex doesn’t notice that I spent an hour in the ‘bathroom’,’_ John thinks to himself, rushing to the bedroom.

He sneaks in and closes the door softly behind him, hoping that the few noises don’t startle Alex. Thankfully, they don’t. He walks up behind Alexander and places his hands on Alex’s shoulders, “come on, love. Time for sleep.”

Ale blinks rapidly, as if he hasn’t looked away from the harsh artificial light since John left the room, and he probably hasn’t, “what? I’m almost done, I’ll be there in just a minute.”

John pulls the chair back from the desk and turns it around so Alex is facing him. He places his hands gently on Alexander’s cheeks, “you’ll be almost done tomorrow as well. Save your work and,” he starts to lean in, moving closer with each word, “come to bed, Alexander.”

He nods slowly and meets John halfway, lips meeting in a sweet kiss. Alex reaches up and pulls John on to his lap, wrapping his arms around John’s waist to keep him from falling. The kiss is loving, shared between two people who know that time is precious.

John slowly pulls away, “sleep, Alexander.” ‘

Alexander turns back to his laptop, keeping an arm wrapped around John and moving the cursor to click ‘save’. He closes that laptop gently and stands, keeping his arms wrapped securely around John as he carries him to the bed.

“I can walk, Alex,” John says as Alex sits on the bed, keeping his arms tight around John.

“I know,” he replies, “I just don’t want to let go yet.”

“Have you ever celebrated Thanksgiving?” John asks abruptly, realizing he never exactly asked.

Alex pulls away from him, confusion coloring his features, “no? Like I said before, we never really had the time or money to celebrate anything growing up. After I came here, I didn’t have the time, money, or desire to celebrate anything.”

“Would you celebrate now if you could?” John continues, pulling on the pajama shirt he had taken off a few hours earlier.

Alex shrugs, “I never really thought about it.” Alex pauses, thinking for a moment as they get under the covers, “I don’t see why not. Especially if it’s with you.”

John nods as he pulls Alex close to him and wraps his arms around his waist. Alex rests his head on John’s chest and wraps an arm around him, “why do you ask?”

John shrugs in lieu of an actual response and presses a kiss to Alex’s head, before deciding to say, “just wondering. It’s coming up and the Schuylers were thinking of doing something.” Not necessarily a lie, technically, Thanksgiving it coming up, it’s today. The Schuylers are thinking of doing something, more along the lines of what they should bring to John’s little get together. He’s pretty sure that they offered to use an old family recipe to make pies but Peggy’s texts can be hard to understand with the amount of emojis she uses.

John realizes that Alex has yet to respond and, when he looks down, Alex is asleep. His face is pressed against John’s chest and mouth open, faint snores ring out into the quiet room. He watches Alex drool on his chest, finding it only endearing, as he struggles not to laugh. Instead, he settles for resting his head back on the pillow and closing his eyes. Hoping that, if he sleeps, the morning will come much faster.

* * *

 

John’s phone begins buzzing at eight-thirty on the dot and he reaches over to shut off the alarm. He gets out of bed, careful to not wake up Alex, and makes his way to the kitchen. He starts the coffee pot and pulls out four mugs. There’s a light knock at the door and John rushes over to pull it open, “ssh, I haven’t woken up Alex yet.” They nod and John moves aside to let them in.

“Bonjour, mon ami,” Lafayette says, pressing kisses to John’s cheeks, “I brought a… um,” he snaps his fingers, “sweet potato casserole and French wine- don’t give me that look, Hercules, you Americans drink terrible wine.”

Hercules chuckles and hugs John, “hey man, I brought cranberry sauce and a table cloth. Where should we put these?”

He thinks for a moment, “just sit the tablecloth on the table and food and wine on the counter.” He checks the time, “the parade’s getting ready to start! Would one of you please get the coffee pot and mugs and-”

Laf touches his arm and cuts him off, “we will take care of it, petite tortue. Go wake up your Alexander.”

John nods, “okay, yeah, alright. Um, you know where the living room is.” He heads back to the bedroom, missing the look that Lafayette and Hercules share, and pushes the door open carefully, trying to avoid making a sound.

Alex is curled up under the dark green comforter, hair in every direction and face buried in John’s pillow. John crosses the small space to the bed, stepping over clothes and books, and sits down on the edge of the mattress. He reaches out and gently shakes Alex, “Alexander, time to wake up.”

Alexander’s eyes slowly open and he rolls over to face John, reaching out for him, he asks, “what time is it?”

John scoots closer to him and he wraps his arms around John’s waist and buries his face in his stomach. “Eight-fifty,” John responds, running his fingers through Alex’s hair, “get up, I have a surprise for you.”

Alex shoots up, eyes frantic, “it’s not our anniversary, right? I swear, I didn’t mean to miss it.”

John laughs and shakes his head, “no, not for a few months.” He stars and holds out his hand, “come on. Trust me.”

Alex immediately takes his hand, “you know I do.”

They walk out of the bedroom, into the living room, and Alex freezes, “John, what’s all this?” he asks about the decorations.

John smiles, holding his hands up like jazz hands, and says, “happy Thanksgiving! This isn’t everything.”

Laf and Herc walk out of the kitchen, holding the coffee pot and mugs that John had left on the counter.

“Bonjour, little Alex!” Lafayette says, pressing kisses to Alex’s cheeks like he did to John’s 15 minutes ago.

“How’d you sleep?” Hercules asks, handing a mug to Alex that Laf quickly fills with coffee.

“Fine, thank you,” Alex replies, slightly in a daze. “Is this everything?” he asks, turning to John.

The man in question immediately shakes his head, “not even close. Now, sit down, the parade’s about to start!” He ushers the three men to the couch where they all sit down and Alex curls up against John’s side. John reaches for the remote and turns the TV to NBC, just in time for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“What is this?” Alex asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

“It’s the glorious capitalistic nightmare that is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s an American tradition to watch it,” John explains, wrapping an arm around Alex and taking a sip of his own coffee. “Meaning, shut up and watch it,” John interrupts as Alex opens his mouth to say something the moment the first float shows up. Alex rolls his eyes but nods and focuses on the screen. The other three can definitely tell that Alex is biting back comments about the parade as it goes on, but he doesn’t say a word.

The parade ends around 10:30 and John stands up, “where are you going?” Alex asks him, looking up with a frown.

He leans down and presses a kiss to Alex’s lips, “it’s Thanksgiving, babe, I have _a lot_ of cooking to do.”

“Isn’t everyone bringing something?” Hercules asks, referencing the text group chat that’s been going on for a month.

John nods, “yes, but I’m doing the _main dish_ and I may still have to google.”

“Do you need assistance?” Lafayette asks, looking away from the Christmas commercials.

“I can do this. Thank you, though,” John replies, taking his laptop from the coffee table as he heads to the kitchen.

For the next hour all that can be heard from the kitchen are bangs and faint swears. “Should we help? With whatever he’s doing?” Alex asks after they hear a particularly loud, “Ow! God fucking dammit!”

“He is fine, petit lion,” Laf says, patting Alex’s arm, “he just wants to surprise you.”

“Surprise me?”

“Of course, Alex,” Herc lays, leaning around Laf to look at Alexander, “he loves you and wants you to finally experience all of these holidays.”

Alex looks down at his lap, lost in his thoughts until John collapses on the sofa next to him a few minutes later. Alex looks over and John’s shirt is covered in some liquid and is hand is wrapped in a towel, “are you okay?!”

John nods quickly, “yeah. I think so? I mean, I slammed my hand in the cabinet, and cut it when I was cutting the twine, and I’m pretty sure I got completely covered in brine but I’m okay. It’ll be done in about… six hours? Yeah, according to Google, roasting takes five and a half hours.”

Alex’s eyes were getting progressively wider as John talked but, when he was done, he stood up and grabbed John’s hand that wasn’t injured, “come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.” They walked to the bathroom and Alex urges John to sit on the counter, and he does… after quite a bit of protest.

Alexander kneels on the floor and opens the cabinet under the bathroom sink, “it’s the blue box, right?” At John’s confirmation, he stands back up with the aforementioned container in his hands. He sets the box down next to John and removes the lid before slowly unwrapped the cloth from around John’s hand, “shit, John this doesn’t look good. What were you cutting the twine with? Why were you cutting twine to begin with?”

John rolls his eyes, “I’m fine, Alex. A knife and Google said that trussing helps it cook more evenly.”

Alex removes peroxide from the container and carefully cleans out the cut, John gripping his arm when it hurts just a bit too much, and rewraps it with actual gauze. He holds it place with a piece of medical tape and puts the supplies away, “I know this is hypocritical coming from me, but be a bit more careful next time? I don’t exactly want the love of my life dying anytime soon.”

John laughs, “Alex, I’m not dying from a small cut. I’m going to be fine but, for you, I’ll be more careful.” He leans forward and presses a quick kiss to Alex’s lips before jumping off the counter, “now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get changed.” There’s a knock at the door, “would you mind letting whoever that is in?”

Alex nods, “of course.” He hits John’s ass with the cloth the was wrapped around his hand when he leaves the bathroom, and John’s laughter follows him all the way to the front door.

He pulls the front door open and is greeted with a happy couple and a squirming baby, “Theo! Aaron Burr, sir! And little baby Theo, it’s a pleasure to see you as always.” The baby in Theo’s arms, looks up at him, a calculating look on her face as if she’s trying to place if she knows him or not. Evidently she does, because in the next moment, she’s reaching out for him with a grin. “Would it be okay if I?” He asks, gesturing to the child and, at Theo’s nod, carefully takes her from her mom and cradles her to his chest.

He steps aside to let the couple in, “where should we put these?” Burr asks, looking down at the four containers he’s carrying in his arms.

“Um,” Alex looks around but thankfully Lafayette saves him, “Aaron! Theo! It’s wonderful to see you all,” he runs towards them and presses kisses to their cheeks, much to the displeasure of Aaron Burr who tries to discreetly wipe his cheeks. Theodosia grins and returns the gesture, “Lafayette, chéri, ça va?”

The grin Theo receives from Laf could rival John’s, “you have been practicing!”

“I have!” laughs Theo, “I promised I would.”

Hercules comes toward them before the conversation could progress, “happy Thanksgiving everyone!” Giving a quick hug to Aaron and Theodosia, he takes the containers from Burr, “I’ll put these on the counter, you two can go make yourselves at home in the living room. Would you like coffee?’

Burr nods, “yes, thank you.”

Theo nods and responds the same, “would you like help?”

Before Hercules can respond, John comes out of the bedroom, “Alex, I think this is one of your shirts but it’s way more comfortable than anything else I have clean so-” he looks up and stops talking, red coloring his cheeks, “hi. Ignore that.”

Theodosia laughs and rushes over to him, throwing her arms around his neck, “John! Thank you for having us over, you look wonderful!”

John returns the hug, a grin rapidly appearing on his face, “Theo, glowing as always! Thank you for coming! I think Aaron’s getting a little jealous though, judging from the look he’s giving us.” John pulls away, “come on, Burr, there’s plenty of me to go around.”

Aaron walks over, fighting a smile as he goes to shake John’s hand, “happy Thanksgiving, Laurens.”

John uses the hand to pull Burr into a hug, “happy Thanksgiving, Aaron. Thank you for coming.” Burr slowly returns the hug, giving into the smile that immediately appears.

Alex watches the interaction, slightly dazed but happy as Hercules walks out of the kitchen holding two more mugs in his hands. Little Theo grasps Alex’s finger in her hands as she pulls it into her mouth, startling Alex out of his thoughts. He looks down at her and laughs, deciding not to fight for his finger back from the small, but strong, child. He sways the baby slowly, watching as her eyes slip closed and the grip on his finger goes slightly slack, signaling that she’s asleep.

John wanders over to him, “you’re really good with her,” he whispers.

Alex smiles up at him, “when I was in the foster home, I used to help out with the smaller children sometimes. The babies always took to me fairly quickly; I guess because I knew what it was like to be completely alone. I never wanted them to feel that way.”

John wraps an arm around Alex’s shoulders and presses a kiss to his temple, “you’re not alone, now. We know that baby Theo will never be alone. My bet is that children just like you.”

Alex chuckles, “I know that.” He shrugs, careful to not disturb the sleeping child, “maybe.”

They make their way back to the living room where Theodosia happily takes the Theo from Alex’s arms and they all sit down. John reaches for the remote again, “would you all be okay with watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?”

“What’s that?” Alex asks, already getting tired of asking the question.

John looks at him, a sunshine smile already in place, “it’s a Thanksgiving animated special based on the comic strip Peanuts. The characters are on our windows.”

Alex looks towards the windows, noting the actual details, “oh. Okay.” Which seems to be the only thing he can think of saying at that point.

Hercules speaks up, “it’s one of the best parts of Thanksgiving and an absolute classic. I’d recommend playing it or Laf is gonna lose it.”

John laughs and flips through the guide until he can find a channel that’s getting ready to play it. Alex leans against John and watches the old animations flick across the screen, the scrappy yellow bird capturing his attention the most.

Near the end of the holiday special, Charlie Brown is on the phone with his grandmother, there’s another knock at the door. Alex starts to stand before John stops him, “I’ll get it. I’ve seen this every year since I was born and I don’t want you to miss it.” He kisses him quickly before rushing to the door.

There’s the sound of greetings and laughter, before footsteps come towards the living room. Alex looks up spotting long curly hair and a red dress, “Maria Lewis! It’s been so long.” He gets up and meets Maria halfway, hugging her tightly, “how have you been since the whole James thing? Is everything going okay with Eliza?”

Maria pulls back from the hug, smiling brightly, “James is still locked away, thankfully, and Eliza has been an absolute saint. Hasn’t forced me to do anything and I haven’t stopped smiling since our first date.”

Alex shares the same smile, “you definitely deserve some happiness after everything. I’m happy for you!” 

Maria thanks him and Burr stands up, “Miss Lewis, I hope you’re doing well?”

“Aaron,” Maria says, stepping away from Alex, “we’re friends. You can call me Maria.” She wraps him in a quick hug which he cautiously returns.

He pulls away, “well, Maria, I hope you’re doing well?”

John walks back into the living room, pulling Alex back onto the chair they were sharing before Maria came in. “I’m doing well,” Maria responds to Aaron before asking, “how are you? How’s Theodosia and the baby?”

“I’m great,” Aaron responds, a smile pulling at his lips at the mention of the two loves of his life. He steps aside quickly so Theodosia can respond, “I’d say we’re doing well,” she says with a smile. She looks down at the baby in her arms before smiling back up at Maria, “would you like to hold her?”

Maria jumps at the chance as she moves to sit on the other side of Theodosia, who gently hands the still sleeping child over to her friend.

Another hour passes before there’s another knock at the door and Alex quickly stands, “I’ll get it.” He rushes away from the football game, that he gave up understanding the moment it started, and moves towards the front door. He pulls it open to be greeted by, “Alexander Hamilton!”

He laughs and steps back as the Schuyler sisters walk in, “Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy!”

They share quick hugs before Eliza gestures to the containers they had set on the floor when they came in, “where should we put those? I can’t recommend leaving them by your front door.”

“I think John has been telling everyone to put their things on the counter, so, there?” Alex says slowly, trying to figure it out himself.

Angelica picks up the six containers, moving to the kitchen and placing them on the counter. Peggy rolls her eyes and mutters, “Angelica you have two sisters to help you.” She looks up at Alex, “honestly, she probably would have made them completely by herself.” Peggy shares a smile with Alex before looping her arm through his and Eliza’s and tugging them to the living room.

The moment they get back in the room, John reaches out for Alex and pulls him onto his lap, “you missed the best play, Alex!”

“Help me,” Alexander mouths to Eliza who laughs and shakes her head as she sits next to her girlfriend.

John presses a kiss to Alex’s cheek and wraps his arms around his waist, “anyway, so number 8, Dan Orlovsky, is the Lions quarterback right? He fucking catches the ball and runs like forty fucking yards and jumps over number 52, Chad Greenway, who was trying to tackle him to the turf and he makes a fucking touchdown!” He’s stopped by cheering from Hercules and Lafayette, “what did I miss?”

“Dan Orlovsky is on it right now!” Hercules shouts, sitting back down on the floor, leaning against Lafayette’s legs.

Alex shakes his head and jumps up again at the sound of a knock, “I’ll get it!” He rushes to the door and pulls it open, “they’re watching football and I don’t understand what’s going on. Please help me.”

Martha Washington looks surprised for a second before laughing, “don’t tell George that.”

“Don’t tell George what?” he asks, as he comes down the hallway, carrying a few containers.

“Nothing,” she replies, sending a wink to Alex, who sighs in relief, “where should he put those?”

“On the counter, please,” Alex says, stepping out of the way so they can come inside.

“Monsieur et Madame Washington!” Lafayette calls, running towards them and pulling them both into a hug, which they laugh and return.

John rushes into the room, “happy Thanksgiving!” He quickly shouts before continuing, “the turkey should be done in a few more hours and then we can sit down to eat?”

George nods, “sounds great. Alex said these go on the counter?”

“I can take them,” John says, stepping forward and taking them from George, “please, make yourselves at home in the living room. Would you like coffee? I’m getting ready to make more.”

Alex touches his arm gently, “I can take care of coffee. Don’t stress yourself out.”

John takes a deep breath and nods, “alright. I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Alex moves back to the living room and grabs the coffee pot. Before he can even start making another pot, John’s pulling open the oven and frantically waving away the smoke. He grabs a meat thermometer and checks the temperature, “okay, it might be done sooner than expected but it’s definitely not done now.” He closes the oven and leans against the overflowing counter, rubbing his face with his hands.

Alex starts the coffee and moves towards John, wrapping his arms around him, “are you okay?”

John nods and rests his head on Alex’s shoulder, “I’m okay. I just… I want this to be good for you.”

“John… this is already the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. I mean, I don’t have anything to compare it to but, if I did, this would definitely surpass all of them. Everyone I care about is here, and you love me, and there’s amazing food, judging by the smells. Thank you for everything you’ve already done.”

John looks back up at him and kisses him gently, “I love you.”

Alex places a hand on his cheek, “I love you.” He kisses him again before pulling away, “are you ready to face the music? We can stay in here if you’d like.”

John nods and smiles, “let’s go.”

They make their way back to the living room, taking a seat on the floor where John immediately pulls Alexander onto his lap.

Much to Alexander’s frustration, they ended up flipping between football games for a few hours until John urges him off of his lap so he can check the turkey.

“It’s done!” John shouts, pulling it out of the oven and setting it on top of the stove. “Herc can you please lay out the tablecloth?”

Hercules looked around the room, “you heard the man. Let’s help out!”

They piled into the kitchen to grab the dishes they brought and Hercules grabs the tablecloth from the counter. Moving forward, before everyone else can leave the kitchen, he lays out the tablecloth on the table, “before anyone asks, yes I did make it.”

Eliza follows him and inspects it, “it’s beautiful! Where did you get so much lace?”

Hercules smiles at her, “there’s this cloth store in the east side that sells pretty nice lace.”

Before the conversation can continue, John’s coming into the room with the turkey and placing it on the center of the table, “why is that so heavy?!”

They place the rest of the food, except for what the Schuylers brought, onto the table and take their seats. John pulls Alex’s chair out for him and presses a kiss to his cheek as he sits down. He takes a seat next to Alex and grabs his hand, “would you guys like to talk about what everyone’s thankful for?”

They all nod, taking the hands of those sitting next to them, and John begins, “I’m thankful for my family, the family that I’ve found in New York, who’s accepting and loves me without question.”

Next is Hercules, “I’m thankful for the love I have for all of you and for Laf, who I never thought I would find.”

Lafayette, “I’m thankful for Hercules. I’m thankful for the Washington’s who have basically become my parents. I’m thankful for all of you, for loving me.”

George, “I’m thankful for Martha, for loving me even after all these years. For all of you, who I look to as children, regardless of the fact that I’m not your biological father.”

Martha, “I’m thankful for George, who I couldn’t stop loving even if I tried. I’m thankful for my family, all of you. I love you.”

Theodosia, “I’m thankful for Aaron. You keep up with me, you love me, you say what needs to be said. I love you. I’m thankful for my actual family and the family that I have in all of you.” She looks at Alexander and John, “Theo couldn’t have better god parents.”

Aaron, “I’m thankful for Theodosia, my wife and my child. Both of you have made my life infinitely brighter. I’m thankful for all of you, yes Alexander even you.” After the laughter settles down, they continue.

Maria, “I’m thankful for Aaron for helping me get away from James. I’m thankful for Eliza, for being there for me after everything and remaining by my side even now. I’m thankful for my family; we’re all too close to just be considered friends.”

Eliza, “I’m thankful for my Angelica and Peggy, my sisters whom I adore. I’m thankful for Maria, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but by your side. I’m thankful for Alex, my best friend and brother. I’m thankful for all of you, my family, I couldn’t imagine not having you all in my life.”

Angelica, “I’m thankful for my sisters, I love you more than anything in this life and I’d choose your happiness over mine, every time. I’m thankful for Maria, you make my sister happy. I’m thankful for you all of you. I can be intimidating but you’ve all stayed… and I’m thankful.”

Peggy, “I’m thankful for all of you, for not forgetting about me. I’m thankful for you all noticing me and keeping me by your sides. I’m thankful for my sisters, you encourage me to keep trying. I love you all.”

Finally, it’s Alex. Alex, who has so many things to say, all the time. Alex, who has been trying not to cry as they went around the table. Alex, who clears his throat and says, “I’m thankful for…” He blinks away the tears, “I’m thankful for all of you. I talk so much, all the time,” he pauses at the snort from Burr, “but you all remain with me. You all love me, regardless of my past and my mistakes. I don’t have a biological family but I have… I have you. I have a father and a mother,” he looks towards the Washingtons, “I have brothers and sisters,” He shares looks with Herc, Laf, Burr, Theo, Maria, Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy, “I have a niece,” he smiles at the sleeping baby Theodosia, “and I have… I have John. The man that I _never_ thought that I would find, the love of my life. I never believed in soul mates, but I think you’re mine. Thank you for loving me and being by my side through everything. I love you.” John pulls his hand away from Hercules’s quickly and wipes away his tears, he reaches for Alex and kisses him quickly, “I love you… so much.”

It’s quiet for a moment, everybody taking in the words that were just shared before John says again, “let’s eat!” Then there’s chaos as the turkey’s cut and food’s passed around. There’s laughter and chatter while everybody eats. Lafayette gets up quickly and grabs the first bottle of wine from the counter and pulls out the cork, he fills everybody’s glass before sitting back down again, “to freedom!” he shouts, raising his glass.

“Something they can never take away!” laughs John, raising his glass.

“No matter what they tell you!” Hercules says, raising his.

“To all of us!” replies Alex, raising his glass.

“Tomorrow they’ll be more of us!” Aaron says, raising his glass and pressing a kiss to Theo’s cheek.

“Telling the story of tonight!” The group says in unison before taking a sip of the wine and returning to the food in front of them.

After the Thanksgiving dinner, the Schuyler sisters bring out the homemade pies and whipped cream. “It’s an old family recipe,” Eliza says as she places the pies on the table.

“Even the whipped cream is homemade,” Peggy continues, placing that container on the table.

“Tweaked as it goes through the generations though. We may be good but I’m not sure we could follow a recipe word-for-word that’s from the 18th century,” Angelica finishes, taking her seat at the table.

So they eat the pies and clean up afterwards. About two and a half hours later, John’s closing the door behind Hercules and Lafayette as they’re the last ones to leave and turning to Alex, “did you have a good time?”

Alex nods and hugs John tightly, “thank you so much for this, John. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“You have no idea how much you mean to me,” John says, wrapping his arms around Alex. “Let’s go to bed, we can finish cleaning up tomorrow.”

Alex pulls back and grabs John’s hands, “do we have to sleep?”

“Aren’t you too full to do anything else?” laughs John.

“Are you?” Alex asks, looking him up and down and stepping closer.

John presses his lips to Alex’s and mumbles, “I think I can handle it.”

Alex grins, “I was hoping you’d say that.” He pulls John to their bedroom and closes the door behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this gets really quick at the end, I started crying about halfway through because I received a shitty card in the mail from my old mentor. It literally said she's quitting the program and, I quote, "I am not sure you have the stamina or strength it takes to achieve your goals".  
> Uploading a day early because I won't be at home at all tomorrow! I'm spending Thanksgiving with my family and I'm super excited!  
> I don't remember what French I used in this but  
> Bonjour= hello/good day  
> ca va= it goes? (basically means "how's it going?" It's just shorter)  
> Monsieur= Mr.  
> Madame= Mrs. 
> 
> I hope this got you in the Thanksgiving spirit! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating and a happy Thursday to those who aren't! :D Also, I did a lot of googling for the football part because Alex is literally me at that point. I don't know a thing about that sport.  
> John's favorite Peanuts character is Woodstock because Woodstock's mine and I cherish that little scrappy bird.  
> I hope this note didn't come across super whiney D: that was not my intention.  
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this! Have a wonderful day/night! Happy Thanksgiving! :D <3


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